Local food - VMY3

I always tell people that I am from Terengganu. The truth is, I was born in KL, brought up in Shah Alam - the same house where my mom and sister still stay until now, spent 5 years schooling in Johor Bahru and all the school holidays, without failed, spent it with my grandma and relatives in Terengganu.

Other than spending a lot of fun times in Terengganu, I also love the food. This is the list of some of my fave food- well, some of you might not even come across it yet. Well, as a start , since its Visit Malaysia Year - why don't give it a try?

Jeruk 'dala' and jeruk 'maman' - this is what we call it. I'm not sure how it is spelled though. Its actually kind of preserved leaves/flower and to be eaten with rice. It has a sourish taste from the liquid and a bit of bitter from the leaves or flower itself.

'Kenas / kenah' - its made from half cooked 'remis' which is a kind of seafood. It is also fermented and it has a strong, kind of rotten smell. If its your first time or even now, don't ever try to smell it. Again to be eaten with rice. The taste - its kind of an appetizer and it really opens up your appetite. Its been a long time since I last ate it.Maybe I could ask my mom to make it.

'Blotok' - its the local sausage. Made from our own version of mince beef which includes the meat and some 'fat', mixed with a bit of fried uncooked 'rice' and fine salt. Later, to be inserted into the cow intestines which had been cleaned earlier. The end result - it will look exactly like sausages. Later , it needs to be dried in the hot sune for a few days. To eat it - we need to fry it first. This traditional food is what we define as ' smell like hell , tastes like heaven'

Belinjau nuts - in front of my grandma's house, there are a few belinjau trees. The fruit/nut is as big as almond nuts and red in colour. Usually, in Indonesia where it is famous, it is turned into crackers. But for us, we eat it like nuts. To process, we need to soak it in water to soften the red skin to peel it off. The 'seed' than later needs to be fried. The unique part is, we fry it with hot sand (like frying the chestnuts).

'Petai' jeruk - usually petai will be eaten raw as part of the 'ulam' or a lot of people add it to their cooking such as sambal petai or masak lemak. However for us, we also preserved it. My granma and mom is really good in preparing this. I can't really explain- other than the strong smell, it has this taste which would increase your appetite and make you eat more rice (bad for me!)

Putu mayam with sweet gravy - usually , putu mayam is to be eaten with either grated coconut and brown sugar or with chicken curry gravy. However, in my hometown, we eat it with this sweet gravy . I'm not sure what its made of but one of the ingredients is the authentic 'brown sugar'. I don't really like it actually.

Tapai ubi goreng - tapai ubi is usually eaten just like that when its ready. But for us, would prefer it to be fried. Tihs is another food which I have not eaten for quite sometime. Maybe my next visit , I'll ty to find it.

Squid's eggs - yummy...I love this one eventhough I know it has really high cholestrol. When its the high season for squids and they dry it to be sold - the eggs will be sold to the locals for a really cheap price.

Etok - it is a type of small , tiny clams. The size of 5 cents coin.I'm not sure whether it is breeded or it can only be found in the local river. So far, I have not found it here in Klang Valley. It has this salty taste. Eating it is like eating sunflower seeds - you keep going on and on and on. How its cooked? I'm really not sure, but I think once I heard my granma said it needs to be marinated and steamed to preserve the original taste.

Turtle's eggs - I know, I know its banned. The last time I had it was about 10 years ago. Does not matter how long you boil it - it will not get hard like the chicken eggs.It has a soft , jellyish texture. I almost wanted to buy it 4 years back when I was in Sandakan - but the consequences of getting caught - we will be fined for RM5000 - no thank you.

Maybe, the next Fear Factor, I would like to suggest them to get the participants to eat things like Kenas or Blotok. But I guess, it is still not as bad as 'Balut' from Phillipines and the cheese with maggot from one of the Europe countries. Yucks!!!!